


To Keep a Promise

by knowlee_raven



Series: Dawn of a New Day [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I will not be held responsible for the heartbreak, Majora's Mask AU, Prepare your emotions, warning you now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:12:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knowlee_raven/pseuds/knowlee_raven
Summary: Oneshot. MariChat/Adrienette. LoZ: MM AU. He had been missing a month, although it was not of his own doing. After being transformed into 'this' by a strange man who possessed a vendetta against his town, and his mask stolen by a thief, Adrien was forced to leave everything behind, including his fiancee, in order to try and retrieve his mask back so that he could keep a promise made long ago.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on my Tumblr and FF.net (links in profile)  
> ~~
> 
> A small disclaimer here: I will not be held responsible for the emotions and heartbreak this story will make you experience. You have been warned.
> 
> A few notes as well for what this story is about:
> 
> This is a Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask AU. And for those who know what that entails, you automatically know what's coming, and for those who don't know let me give you a brief explanation of what this is about.
> 
> Majora's Mask (or MM for short) is a video game that is a part of the Legend of Zelda series. The story revolves around a young child who is searching for a lost friend of his and during his journey he ends up getting attacked by a child who is possessed by an evil mask (the name of the mask is shared with the title of the game: Majora's Mask). The child steals two precious items of his and sends him on a chase where he finds himself cursed and flung into a world that's very different from the one he grew up in.
> 
> At first he's just concerned about getting back what is his and returning back to his true form, but ultimately he ends up finding himself wanting the save this world and all of the inhabitants in it from its fate which is being crushed by the moon which is set to fall in three days time.
> 
> This game is a bit different from others in its series in that unlike just having you want to save this world (called Termina) from its fate because you're the hero, it actually makes you really want to save it because of it's people. Sure the game has the main quest you can just do and be done with it, but the real meat of the game is the side quests which require you to help people and make them happy. And how you make them happy is different for each person. Two of those people in fact are the two that Adrien and Marinette play the roles of in this story.
> 
> They're a couple who has been torn apart by unfortunate circumstances and it's up to you to bring them together. And when you do, if you didn't ever feel like 'I must save this world for them' before when you played this game, you _will_ after helping them.
> 
> As you read this story I would recommend looking up Theophany's "Lover's Mask" up on youtube and listening to it as you read this. Reading this will make you feel emotions, but when you have this song playing in the background, it's makes the emotions all the more intense.
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, the story.

~~  
He had no time left.

Correction he _had_ time left, but it wasn't much. Only six hours exactly.

Six hours until everything ended. And when that time came he wanted to ensure that he was able to keep his promise and be with the one he loved the most when time ran out.

He could only hope that she kept her side of the promise as well. He knew deep down that she would, but it still didn't hurt to pray.

He continued to run as fast as he could while ensuring that his precious cargo was intact. There was no way he was losing this again.

~~

Marinette sat wringing her hands together as she sat upon her bed desperately awaiting for her love to arrive. She felt the ground rumbling outside and the noise kept reminding her of why it was dangerous to remain here and her more logical and natural survivalist instincts were telling her to run and not live her last moments on this earth on the chance that he _might_ show up.

Her heart though was telling that he _would_ show up. He promised.

And that was what kept her rooted there in that spot.

She sighed and looked to her left at what was to be her wedding dress and at the mask that sat in the location of the mannequin's face: the mask she made to exchange at her wedding: the Moon's Mask. She smiled wistfully as she thought of what tomorrow was to be. Or at least what it would've been if it wasn't for that dreadful moon that was coming down upon them all.

Her wedding day. Hers and Adrien's to be exact.

They had made a promise years ago when they were young children that they would one day marry the other on the day of the Carnival of Time. To be wed on that day was said to bring good fortune to a couple. Of course being children, they'd didn't fully realize what the implications of getting married meant, but as they got older and began growing even closer to one another, the promise they had made back then became even more important. Especially when they realized that they had fallen in love with one another.

But although they came together in love, it didn't mean that others followed along with it willingly. His father in particular was one of them. Gabriel Agreste was at first adamant against the idea of them being together. But as time went by he eventually accepted her as being the person his son was set on being with and gave them his blessing. They, along with her parents, were thrilled to have it.

Another person was Chloe Bourgeois. She, like her, was a childhood friend of Adrien's and it was widely known that she possessed feelings towards him like she did. But in comparison to her, Chloe had a very different way of showing it. She would force herself upon him and try to gain his affections any way she could. But as evident by the fact of what ended up transpiring between her and Adrien, Chloe never ended up getting what she wanted.

In fact, she was furious about the fact for a while after Adrien announced that he was courting her and lashed out any way that she could. It wasn't until a few months ago that she finally accepted it and even began to try and be nice to her, if only for Adrien's sake.

And then when he asked for her hand in marriage, Marinette was beside herself in joy. Of course she would marry him. She loved him and wanted to be with him for the rest of her days.

After that announcement was made, she immediately began sewing the dress that she was going to wear and began making the mask that was meant to compliment the one he was to make. Everything was going well.

At least until that day…

On that day, it began as a small thing really, first the local astronomer announced to the town that it appeared as if the moon were getting closer. At first people scoffed at his words, not believing him. Even she was one of the disbelievers at the time.

But as time went on, it became quite evident that it _was_ getting closer. And it _wasn't_ stopping.

The astronomer eventually announced that if it continued at this rate, the moon was going to crush the town and everyone in it and around it would perish. None would survive.

At those words she found herself terrified. Especially once it was realized that it would fall on the day of the Carnival. The day she and Adrien were to be married.

And what matters worse was that she couldn't run to Adrien to receive comfort from the dreadful news nor to discuss perhaps moving up their wedding plans so at least when that day came they'd be married to one another and to see if there was a way that they could survive. 

And the reason behind this?

He was gone.

On the same day that the announcement was made, Adrien had simply disappeared. No one, not her, nor his father or even Chloe knew of his whereabouts. He had vanished without a trace.

That realization devastated her. At first she was terrified that perhaps someone had killed him or that he had an accident that prevented him from coming home from wherever it was he went. Another idea came to her of maybe the reason behind his disappearance was that he no longer loved her and had left her for another woman.

All of those possibilities left an empty feeling inside of her and she desperately wanted answers as to where he was before the moon fell.

A week passed. Then another. Another one came and went. Finally a month went by and nothing was heard of what had happened to him. Even Adrien's father had exhausted all of his means to try and find him and she knew that just as much as she did that he wanted answers. He had lost his wife years ago and for him to know that he might have possibly lost his son as well was heartbreaking for her to watch.

All during that time though, she kept up hope that he was still alive out there and that perhaps he hadn't left her for another. She held out hope that a sign would arrive that would answer all her questions.

Then finally three days ago, that sign came in the form of a letter…

Marinette would admit at first that she was a little surprised to see the letter and at first denied that it was from him. But the handwriting was unmistakeably his. In the letter he wrote that he couldn't explain much of what happened to cause him to disappear but that he would answer all of her questions when he arrived before the moon fell. He also wrote that he loved her and assured her that he didn't leave her for another.

He wanted her to wait for him.

Her heart desperately wanted to so much, but her head was telling her not to. It was telling her not to risk it when there was a chance that she could still survive.

She and her parents were set to leave to go take shelter at her best friend Alya's farm. It was far enough from the town and her parents thought that they'd have a better chance of surviving there. Although she took these words as comfort, she also felt deep down that there was no way they'd survive out there either. It was all for naught.

With this thought in mind, she made her decision.

It was heartbreaking to see her parents try and reason with her, but in the end they relented. She believed a good reason of why they let her go was because they knew that if the situation were reversed they would have done the same.

The small family had hugged one another and said their goodbyes with tears and kisses. They knew that this would be the last time they ever saw each other.

At least until the next life anyway.

She remembered watching as they left out the town gates with tears rolling down her eyes. The small child inside of her desperately wanted to run after them and stay to be comforted, but she was able to hold herself back because she had promised him.

She would wait for him and he would come.

They would die together and fulfill the last bit of their vows of 'until death do they part'.

The ticking of the nearby clock was the only sound she paid attention to. She watched with watery blue eyes as the time kept on running down. There was very little time left.

Six hours...

Five hours...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

The tears began to fall from her eyes and soon they turned into sobbing. She held her head in her hands and cried as she sat on the bed, both her hands and head in her lap.

He wasn't coming. He wasn’t…

Her sobs continued as the ground rumbled outside. The moon was inching ever closer.

The end was coming.

~~

Adrien, currently known as Chat Noir, felt elated as he saw the walls of the town come into view. He was nearly there. Marinette was there, waiting. Waiting for him.

With every step he took, he got closer to his destination. And although his mind was focused solely on seeing his Princess, he also found himself thinking back to the events that led up to this moment.

A little over a month ago, everything was going well for him. He was engaged to the love of his life and was looking forward to the moment where they would say their vows and spend the rest of their lives together. His father had even given him their blessing and had finally allowed him to take his own path in life instead of continuing to chart it for himself. 

Everything was absolutely perfect. At least until that moment happened…

He wasn't sure exactly what he did to tick off the guy who had cursed him. But according to him, Papillion was the name the man went by apparently, he wanted to exact revenge upon this town and it's citizens for some reason or another and wanted them to suffer. And he started with him.

The man had cursed him into the form of a humanoid black cat where he possessed a tail, cat ears, claws, glowing eyes and teeth befitting of that description. After the transformation was complete, he attempted to attack the man and force him to change him back, but he was unable to. The man had left.

The only solution he could find was to go and see the two fairies that lived in spring and see if they could use their magic to free him from the spell cast upon him. But unfortunately, things only got worse.

When he arrived at the fairies' spring, he was shocked to find that they were no longer in their full forms. They had shattered into tiny pieces and could only be made whole by finding those that were lost. But where they were, he didn't know.

With that knowledge now in mind, he sullenly walked back into the northern part of town and in his sorrow he failed to notice a man, a thief to be more exact, headed in his direction. The thief took advantage of his lack of attention and attacked him, effectively stealing his precious Sun's Mask (the mask he intended to give to Marinette at their wedding) and running off before he could catch him to get it back.

He needed to get that mask back. Not only was it the mask he needed for his wedding, but he had a promise he needed to keep to Marinette. And that promise required that he had the mask in hand when he saw her next. But with it gone, he was unable to fulfill it. And with the realization that he would also need it to prove who he was to his beloved due to his hideous form, he was desperate to get it back.

So he was left with no other choice than to go into hiding. He donned a black outfit and mask to keep over his altered appearance and took the name of 'Chat Noir' to ensure that no one could see the resemblance.

He only intended it to be for a few days. He didn't think that it would take that long to find the mask as he had a connection with his best friend Nino who ran a place called the Curiosity Shop. The place was a hub for the black market and knowing that the thief who stole his mask might come and sell it there was the reason why he needed Nino's help.

It took some convincing to make his friend realize that his claims of being his best friend were legit, but when he did, he was fully dedicated to helping him out.

Then the next horrible thing happened.

He didn't know it happened so fast. Maybe he was so focused on his task of finding the mask that he failed to notice it nor heard the townspeople gossiping about it, but one day he realized that the moon looked a lot closer than it did before. When he saw it, he asked Nino about it since he knew Nino was out and about more than he was because of his appearance. When his friend told him what had been predicated to happen, it only increased his desire of needing to get this mask.

He didn't want Marinette to be alone when that time came. He wanted to be with her then.

But he had his promise he needed to keep to her.

Nino had tried to convince him to just forget the mask and go to Marinette to be with her in order to spend whatever time they had left together and Chat wanted to listen, but he also knew of his promise. If they could exchange their masks and become a married couple before that day came then they could truly be together. Sure he probably could just make another mask, but with how long he knew it took him to make the last one, it wouldn't be done by the time of the Carnival.

Time kept slipping and before he knew it, it was only three days until their wedding day. Three days until the moon was set to fall.

He couldn't keep her in the darkness any longer. He shouldn't have even kept her in the dark for as long as he did. Although he did not deserve her forgiveness for that, he would surely beg for it when he saw her again. So he wrote her a letter telling her that he hadn't left her willingly and that he would come back for and that she needed to wait for him. He would explain everything then. He sent it.

He knew that there was a chance that they would probably never see the other again, but unlike the pervasive darkness that had come across the land the past month or so due the moon's descent, he felt rather lucky about the next day.

And lucky he was. Finally after weeks of waiting and searching he finally saw the thief that had stolen his mask enter the shop and although he didn't have the aforementioned item on him, Chat knew that this was his chance. Once the man left, he snuck out behind him and followed him back to his hideout located miles away from town.

He knew he wouldn't be able to detail it to anyone who would possibly ask him about it later, but he managed to sneak into the thief's hideout and take back what was his. With his precious possession now back in his grasp, he had left as soon as he could without arousing suspicion that he had done what he did.

Which wouldn't matter much anyway considering that there were practically only minutes remaining until the moon fell. That made it more imperative that he make it back to the bakery where she was waiting. He saw the building come into view.

' _Marinette, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. Please be there for me… **Please.**_ '

~~

Marinette tried to catch her breath as the tears continued to fall, but it wasn't working. The pit of fear that she had felt growing deep in her stomach had now taken her over. He wasn't coming, he wasn't com-

She stopped and jerked her head up towards the closed door of her bedroom. Did she just-? Surely, she was just hearing things…? But she dared to hope.

Marinette listened again and slowly but surely she heard it again. The sound of rushed footsteps as they came barreling up the stairs that sat outside her door came to her ears. Her eyes widened as she watched the doorknob turn and the door open.

She took in a deep breath and watched as a young man walked in and closed the door behind him. She slowly stood up from the bed as she took his blonde hair and green eyes. Was this Adrien? By why was he wearing black clothes and dressed up like a cat?

“A-Adrien? Is, is that -?”

The ground rumbled outside as she watched him take in a deep breath. “Yes, it's me, Marinette. I'm… I'm sorry for making you wait as you did, but unfortunately I was… I was...” He looked away from her in guilt.

Marinette breathed deeply and started to make her way towards him. “Adrien? Look at me, please.” He flicked his green cat-like eyes in her direction before quickly looking away. “Adrien? Please...” Once again he looked at her, then away again, before ultimately returning her stare. Although he was terrified of what she was going to do, he would not deny her this. Especially not with the world about to end in a matter of minutes.

Marinette looked at his eyes and at first was a little shocked at seeing what they looked like, but when she continued to look up into them, she could see it. She could see Adrien's eyes. 

Her hands slowly moved up of their own accord until they grasped the edges of his mask and she slowly pulled it off of his face. With the mask now removed, if she wasn't sure before if this was Adrien now it was surely confirmed for her.

He had come back.

A smile broke across her face and more tears welled up in her eyes (although for different reason this time) before she ultimately stood up on the ends of her toes to kiss the man before her, the black mask falling from her grasp as she threaded her hands into his hair. Adrien nearly fell over at the sudden action, but he managed to regain his footing and keep a hold of the precious mask and returned the kiss with as much energy and emotion that she was giving.

God, he missed her. And from how she was kissing him, if he had any doubts that she missed him too, they had just flown out the window.

The kiss continued for a few moments longer until ultimately they pulled away and Adrien could see the streaks of water her tears had left on her face. He wiped them away with his thumb, being ever mindful of his claws to ensure that he wouldn't accidentally scratch her in the process. 

A rumbling noise resounded outside. He didn't have to even look outside to know that the moon was about to hit. He took another deep breath. “Marinette, I'm sorry for leaving you as I did. I know that there's no amount of begging I can do to ask for forgiveness, but I hope that you can and if not I can understand.”

Marinette smiled and moved to kiss him again before pulling away. “It doesn't matter now. What matters is that you're here and that we're together.”

Adrien returned the smile and brought the Sun's Mask up for her to see. “I made a promise back when we were engaged that the next time I saw you would be on our wedding day and that I would give you this mask as you would give me yours to fulfill our vows to one another.”

She glanced down at the golden mask and back up to him with a smile. “I remember.” She turned and quickly made her way over to the mannequin where she grabbed her mask, the Moon's Mask off of it's face. She turned to face him. “Shall we?”

He nodded and walked over to her. Once they were close enough, the two held out their respective masks and when they connected they glowed together in a tangent of gold and silver and then all at once they combined to form another mask: the Couple's Mask. This mask symbolized their union. They were now married. Husband and wife.

The ground started to rumble harder outside. Adrien spared a glance out the window to see the sky turning a blood red. It was going to hit any time now.

He turned his sight towards Marinette, his wife, and took the mask from her grasp to lay it down on the nightstand that sat next to the mannequin. Then he wrapped his arms around her, one around her waist and the other around her upper body. She returned the embrace.

“I love you, Marinette.”

He heard her sniff. How he wished this moment were happening in another way. With her wearing the beautiful dress she had sewn and he wearing his suit that had been given to him by his father as a gift to show his blessing. She would be holding a bouquet of flowers and would look absolutely stunning.

Their family members and friends would surround them and they would cheer as the masks were exchanged and the bouquet thrown. Another loud rumble outside shattered his vision. Of course that image was never going to happen now, but at least they were together in the end.

“I love you too, Adrien.”

He felt a few tears fall from his eyes too as he gripped her closer. He put his hand that was closest to her head into her hair and took a deep breath to remember her scent. Perhaps they would see each other in the next life. That's what he wanted the most right now.

“I'm scared, Adrien.”

Adrien pulled back away from her and kissed her brow while wiping away her tears that she had shed. Like her, he hated knowing that this was how they were going to spend their last moments and was scared of what was to come, but at the same time, he was glad he was able to keep his promise. He pulled away from her and put his forehead against hers. He gazed into her eyes and she into his as they tried to remember each others faces. “Don't worry, princess.”

“We'll greet the morning together.”

The rumbling grew louder and louder and the sky redder and redder until finally…

…the moon hit and there was no more.


End file.
